Apple Releases iWork '09 9.0.2 and MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.3

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/05/28/apple-releases-iwork-09-9-0-2-and-macbook-pro-smc-firmware-update-1-3/)

Apple today released a pair of software updates, one for iWork '09 users and one for MacBook Pro users.

iWork '09 9.0.2 (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/application_updates/iwork09902.html) (42.8 MB) addresses issues with saving documents and Keynote.This update improves reliability when saving some iWork documents and when playing some presentations more than once per Keynote session.The update requires iWork '09 and OS X 10.4.11 or 10.5.6 or later.


MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.3 (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/firmware_hardware/macbookprosmcfirmwareupdate13.html) (833 KB) addresses an issue with fan behavior on 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros.This SMC Firmware update adjusts the fan behavior in MacBook Pro systems (15-inch and 17-inch) when running under high workload conditions.The update requires OS X 10.4.11 or 10.5.7, and Apple provides additional instructions (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2368) for installing the update.

Article Link: Apple Releases iWork '09 9.0.2 and MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.3 (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/05/28/apple-releases-iwork-09-9-0-2-and-macbook-pro-smc-firmware-update-1-3/)

[gr8tfly]

17" UB MBP (early 2009)

iWork '09 update only; no SMC update (through Software Update).

[daneoni]

I'm very wary of the SMC update which is why i only installed the iWork out of the two

[Kilamite]

Yeah, my uMBP doesn't find the SMC update either.

[gr8tfly]

I'm very wary of the SMC update which is why i only installed the iWork out of the two

Wary and watchful here. I don't have any complaints on fan behavior whatsoever - the UB seems to be the coolest, and best behaved (fan speed wise) of any of my MBPs to date. I'm in the "wary - I'll wait and see" mode - especially since Software Update isn't showing it.

I suspect if I went ahead and manually downloaded the SMC update, it wouldn't install anyway.

(17" UB)

[norsemen]

My Santa Rosa MBP 2,4 GHz (June 07) found the SMC-update.

[Aldaris]

Running on a 2.4 Ghz MacBook Pro 15" (Late 2008).

I wonder if it's just the newer models effected, as we had SMC updates previously.

[cal6n]

It must be for the 8600 graphics models. Got to keep them cool under load somehow.

[h0e0h]

didn't find with 15" uMBP

[Arkbear]

I the SMC Firmware update got it on my early 2008 MPB 15" - No problems with the update. Took longer to go through the reboots than to actually apply it. Can't say that I've really done any high-stress computing since, so I haven't noticed any real change in temperature or fan action, though heat has never been a real big deal on this machine. The update appears not to break anything, surely.

[juniormaj]

How to determine if you need this update (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237)

[gr8tfly]

How to determine if you need this update (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237)

Looks like it was just updated, but still leaves out the 17" UB (early 2009). I'm pretty sure it won't require it, though. The 17" UB is version 1.42f4.

[doctoree]

Can someone with this update installed please make some test whether the Fans are louder and faster or not?
My early 08 MBP also found this patch and I assume it lets the fans run faster to delay the death of the GPU. It may be Apples stretegy to delay it long enough to make it fall outside of the guarantee coverage so they don't have to pay the repair. But that's a trap I'm not going to tap into, muahahah.
I'm still looking forward to a new laptop for free in two years, when Apple can't repair it any longer (due to missing parts).
Doc

[mrkgoo]

Can someone with this update installed please make some test whether the Fans are louder and faster or not?
My early 08 MBP also found this patch and I assume it lets the fans run faster to delay the death of the GPU. It may be Apples stretegy to delay it long enough to make it fall outside of the guarantee coverage so they don't have to pay the repair. But that's a trap I'm not going to tap into, muahahah.
I'm still looking forward to a new laptop for free in two years, when Apple can't repair it any longer (due to missing parts).
Doc

That's a crazy conspiracy theory you got going there.

I installed the update. I have no idea if the fans are louder and/or faster than before.

[rjheys]

Can someone with this update installed please make some test whether the Fans are louder and faster or not?
My early 08 MBP also found this patch and I assume it lets the fans run faster to delay the death of the GPU. It may be Apples stretegy to delay it long enough to make it fall outside of the guarantee coverage so they don't have to pay the repair. But that's a trap I'm not going to tap into, muahahah.
I'm still looking forward to a new laptop for free in two years, when Apple can't repair it any longer (due to missing parts).
Doc


I have an early 08 15" MBP, I just installed the update. I tried stressing my machine, exporting a full HD Quicktime file, and the update seems to let the machine get hotter before bumping up the fan speed. The fans usually start to spin up when it gets to about 70⁰c-75⁰c. But this time they stayed at 2000 rpm until the temp reached 87⁰c !!!!! and then slowly started speeding up. That is the hottest I have ever seen it get, nearly to hot to touch.

[Stevamundo]

I installed the SMC on my MBP '07. Everything is fine here.

[studiomusic]

I will never again update SMC firmware again unless I have problems intended to be fixed by said firmware.
The Mac Pro SMC firmware update last year turned my fans on full blast all the time. Just out of Applecare too.

[alphaod]

No SMC update here on a 2.53GHz 15" MacBook Pro.

[cubedweller]

I updated and everything appears to work fine. 15" SR MacBook Pro 2.4GHz.

[Stridder44]

I have an early 08 15" MBP, I just installed the update. I tried stressing my machine, exporting a full HD Quicktime file, and the update seems to let the machine get hotter before bumping up the fan speed. The fans usually start to spin up when it gets to about 70⁰c-75⁰c. But this time they stayed at 2000 rpm until the temp reached 87⁰c !!!!! and then slowly started speeding up. That is the hottest I have ever seen it get, nearly to hot to touch.


Wow I am so not installing this update. Why would they start later? That's exactly what happens in Windows on a MBP. The fans don't kick in till they really need to, making the case very warm at all times. Is Apple retarded?

[JavaWizKid]

I have an early 08 15" MBP, I just installed the update. I tried stressing my machine, exporting a full HD Quicktime file, and the update seems to let the machine get hotter before bumping up the fan speed. The fans usually start to spin up when it gets to about 70⁰c-75⁰c. But this time they stayed at 2000 rpm until the temp reached 87⁰c !!!!! and then slowly started speeding up. That is the hottest I have ever seen it get, nearly to hot to touch.

Haha they could be deliberately killing the 8600 to repair it with a better one?

[JavierP]

Wow I am so not installing this update. Why would they start later? That's exactly what happens in Windows on a MBP. The fans don't kick in till they really need to, making the case very warm at all times. Is Apple retarded?

The new max. temperature set point seems to be 80C, but the control action is slow and it does nothing 'til the set point is reached. So it overshoots 5C here (85C). I guess this is good for winter times.

I don't know why Apple did this change. The old 70C, 75C? max was better.

[noodle654]

Just installed the update on my 2.2GHz MBP.

[Stridder44]

The new max. temperature set point seems to be 80C, but the control action is slow and it does nothing 'til the set point is reached. So it overshoots 5C here (85C). I guess this is good for winter times.

I don't know why Apple did this change. The old 70C, 75C? max was better.


Haha they could be deliberately killing the 8600 to repair it with a better one?


Seriously, I don't understand this update. Apple, please explain.

[KingYaba]

I think I'll hold off on the firmware update. I use smc anyway so anything that works my CPU I'm manually changing the fanspeed beforehand.

[amusiccale]

Similar results at higher temperatures here - seems like it would have been best to avoid this update. I'll have to be more conscientious with smc now.

[kockgunner]

I'm encoding a video, playing an HD youtube clip and playing an HD video at the same time and the fans started to change from 2000 rpm at 79-81 degrees. Right now my computer is hovering around 81-83 degrees celsius with fans at 3000-3500 rpm. I'll repeat the test again after the SMC update.

UPDATE: My computer's fans stayed at 2000 up until 82 degrees. For a while the temperature fluctuated between 74 an 80 degrees while fan speed stays at 3300 rpm. Now my computer is at 79 degrees at 3700 rpm.

My results are pretty random, but overall I don't notice any dramatic changes. If it is for the worse, then Apple will have to replace my computer with a UMBP!

[darrenscerri]

Can't install on a Unibody MBP 2.53GHz. I had fan problems since the beginning... and it's an SMC problem.

[MacsomJRR]

Iwon't be installing until I get my new uMBP next week. Can't wait.

[angemon89]

This update isn't showing on my MBP (2.16 C2D Merom with ATI x1600)

[koobcamuk]

2.16GHz does not need the SMC update.

[doctoree]

Can someone please run wow or another game in window mode and have a look at how the fans react to gpu load. I still don't know what to do...

[paenguin]

installed this update. my MBP (early 2008) use to cruise at 40-50C but after this update, temps are up to 60-70C.. still haven't done video and photo editing.. bummer! should have installed this update.. :(

[doctoree]

installed this update. my MBP (early 2008) use to cruise at 40-50C but after this update, temps are up to 60-70C.. still haven't done video and photo editing.. bummer! should have installed this update.. :(

that's really wierd. I expected the fans to rotate faster, being louder and the laptop being cooler but the oposit seems to have happened.

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

Hi all,

I would defo recommend this update to all MBP - 8600GT users out there!

In fact, I think this update is only available for MBPs with 8600 anyway... :)

Before the update my fans would spin at constant 2000rpm regardless what I do - be that using TextEdit or rendering video or 3d...

Now, it appears that my MBP became bit "smarter" so to speak so it speeds up the fans up to 3100rpm (thats the fastest i noticed so far anyway) if I am throwing some heavy workload on it...

At the same time - perhaps its just me, but it seams that fans are less noisy as well - even when they speed up above 3000rpm...

Great update I think :)

[rrijkers]

I think mine is a bit louder now, but I am ok with that if it will run cooler at the same time it is louder...

[buckyballs]

If it is for the worse, then Apple will have to replace my computer with a UMBP!

Not going to happen.

I had my logic board replaced about 3 months ago (8600M GT defect), and the Mac Genius told me that Apple manufacture massive stockpiles of replacement parts so they don't have to replace the whole machine. And btw, Apple will only honour their promise of fixing 8600M GT defects up to 2 years after the purchase date. After 2 years, unless you have AppleCare, they won't replace faulty 8600Ms. The majority of MBPs with a faulty GPU were manufactured around May-July 2007 apparently.

Sounds to me like they're trying to make them fail just to force people to replace them. (Constant warming then cooling is what wrecks silicon chips)

[ChrisA]

I don't know why Apple did this change. The old 70C, 75C? max was better.

Better battery life and reduced fan noise with hight temperatures. It's all a trade off

[doctoree]

Sounds to me like they're trying to make them fail just to force people to replace them. (Constant warming then cooling is what wrecks silicon chips)

Or they try to artificially delay feilures out of the time Apple Care would still appy so they don't have to repair it. I bought Apple Care and my plan is to have them repair it just before Apple Care is over. Why? I hope they may be out of replacement parts until then which would force them to give me a new laptop for free (this will be in January 2011)

[macffooky]

Funnily enough I'd recently noticed my Early '08 MBP's fans had started to kick in earlier than previously which I ascribed to 10.5.7 or maybe an increased build up of fluffy crud in the machine. I haven't had any need to run anything intensive since applying the SMC update but I'll fire up a Handbrake encode and see what gives...

I don't want a Unibody replacement so I tend to baby my machine with regard to heat.

Right, nothing at all until 93C and then they eventually ramped up to 6005RPM with 90-91C seemingly the temperature which triggered each successive increase up to that point.

Anyone without Handbrake or something similarly intensive can run:

yes > /dev/null

in Terminal but don't forget to quit it !

Running yes > /dev/null in two tabs (one for each core) quickly took it up to scary temperatures but the fans keppton a rollin' long after the temperature had decreased to levels at which they'd have not started up.

[lamadude]

Installed it on my early 08, penryn mbp, don't really notice any difference, but everythin went smooth and I have a 5 year warranty with my apple reseller so I'm not too worried about my 8600 card.

[macffooky]

I have a 5 year warranty with my apple reseller so I'm not too worried about my 8600 card.

Wow, that's nice. I'm hoping the 6 year thing (http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html) in the UK will actually pan out but you're lucky.

[fleshman03]

It must be for the 8600 graphics models. Got to keep them cool under load somehow.

That is what I'm thinking. I have a DVD I need to rip, so I'll post what occurs w/ the update.

[fleshman03]

Three pictures.
1) right after watching an HD youtube video for 1 minute
2) right after watching an HD youtube video for 3 minutes (did not get higher)
3) right after watching a regular youtube video for 4 minutes.

[Gex]

Update shows up on my early 2008 MacBook Pro.. I also suspect it has to do with the faulty 8600 cards.. I remember Dell released an update some months ago for their 8600GT laptops that speeds up the fans.. Seems like a clever move for Dell, as the cards will probably have less chance of failing within the warranty period.

Now Apple is doing the same (Although it seems strange that some seem to get hotter MBPs after this update :confused:).

I think I recall reading about the 8600GTs that it's not the heat that is killing them, but in fact the temperature variations (e.g. going from hot to cold when entering sleep mode etc..)

Oh well, we have pretty decent consumer rights here in Norway, so if my laptop fails within 5 years from purchase due to faulty hardware, there is a great chance for getting it fixed/replaced by Apple for free :cool:

[Stridder44]

Better battery life and reduced fan noise with hight temperatures. It's all a trade off


I prefer having slightly less battery time than a stupid hot case that lessens the life of my notebook.

[fleshman03]

These are with handbreak runninh @ different times.


It is staying noticeably cooler with the fans @ 4500-5500. Maybe it underclocked the GPU?

This is encoding a copy of a DVD that I own. The DVD runs 1:24 minutes. Encoding is set to basic-> Normal. Size is limited to 850mb.

Geekbench has dropped about 100 points since 10.5.7 and this SMC update.

[Stridder44]

These are with handbreak runninh @ different times.


It is staying noticeably cooler with the fans @ 4500-5500. Maybe it underclocked the GPU?

This is encoding a copy of a DVD that I own. The DVD runs 1:24 minutes. Encoding is set to basic-> Normal. Size is limited to 850mb.

Geekbench has dropped about 100 points since 10.5.7 and this SMC update.

God I hope that's not true. Why would they decrease the power of the GPU? Just because it's potentially faulty?

[doctoree]

I made my decision and put the update onto the ignore list in Software Update.

[daneoni]

I made my decision and put the update onto the ignore list in Software Update.

Amen

[Queen6]

The 1.3 SMC firmware update is not shown in "Software Update" on my early 08 2.4 Penryn MBP, built September 08. I run SMC fan control 100% of the time at 2500rpm, the fans pick up speed once the CPU exceeds 80C and as a rule unless the MBP is being stressed the CPU is at <55C and GPU at <65C, OS-X is at 10.5.7 & SMC Version (system): 1.27f1

I dont plan on manually running this patch as my MBP is running fine, and I want to know a lot more about what exactly the patch does, as it may not be reversible and the results adverse on my MBP

Q-6

[puercaeli]

I was told by they are working on this issue and kind of hoped that this would fix it...
I guess this issue will be dealt by driver update.

[MatthewStorm]

That's weird. I bought my MBP 6 months ago and it says I have the new Firmware.

[Timur]

Late 2008 Unibody Macbook Pro 2.8 doesn't need this update. It's already running the way that people describe this update to behave.

With an alluminium chassis you shouldn't necessarily put the Macbook on your lap with nothing in between when running CPU/GPU intensive applications. That's what alluminium does, carry away the heat from the inner to the outer. If you don't like that then better buy a plastic computer, plastic isolates from heat.

The chips specs allow a maximum temperature of 105°C. Even after running stress tests for 6.5 hours with a CPU temperature of around 100°C the computer wont crash. The GPU usually stays well below that anyway.

Besides, the fans are operated by hardware (that's why it says SMC Firmware update) and thus run just the same on Windows as on OS X, at least on my late 2008 Unibody Macbook Pro.

This is to make the computer quiet and nothing to worry about unless it gets too hot for you on the outside. In that case you're better off with using SMCfancontrol or some external cooling solution.

Just to mention it: iStat seems to read the CPU Diode instead of the Core temperatures. This usually is around 10°C higher than what's going on inside of the CPU. I would be better if it showed the CPU Core temperatures of all Cores (at least optionally).

Here is an example of the fans spinning up quite late after when a "sudden" rush of load surprises them after a longer period of only small load. And guess what, if the sudden rush stops suddenly then the CPU temp is down below 70°C in a second and after some more time it's down below 50°C, all with fans only running at 2000 rpm.

So what this update probably really does it make the fans only spin up for prolonged periods of load or for regular load after initially keeping fan-noise down for as long as possible. The CPU can take it, don't worry too much. It may be hot on your hands, but that's a design fault of the chassis (like when the heat gets exhausted/redirected to the upper side when the screen is tilted too much).

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/5861/picture2yog.png (http://img32.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture2yog.png)

[limo79]

Good news is that fans do not spin up when we watch Flash movies :-)

[henhowc]

Good news is that fans do not spin up when we watch Flash movies :-)

I noticed this too. I have a 2007 Santa Rosa MBP and prior to the SMC update the fans seemed to amp up a lot quicker when doing anything CPU intensive. Could just all be in our heads though :p

[daneoni]

So basically its better for 8600GT users to installed the update seeing as its likely to kill your GPU faster or is the previous method better?

[MrZebra]

So basically its better for 8600GT users to installed the update seeing as its likely to kill your GPU faster or is the previous method better?

Is apple trying to force nvidia to actually do something making more chips fail?

[limo79]

I noticed this too. I have a 2007 Santa Rosa MBP and prior to the SMC update the fans seemed to amp up a lot quicker when doing anything CPU intensive. Could just all be in our heads though :p

I noticed this behaviour mostly under Windows 7 where the temperature conditions are worse than under OSX Leopard. I think this is some kind of progress, but anyway it could be fixed by accident and overall purpose was to slow agony of our NVIDIA chips ;) Please note that other laptop brand release similar few months ago and strange time coincidence - Apple release MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.3 on May 28, 2009 and next day they extended warranty policy to three years for all Macs with failing NVIDIA chips.

[Stridder44]

Is apple trying to force nvidia to actually do something making more chips fail?


This update, as others have said, adjusts the fan's speed to start later and variates the heat the GPU will undertake. Again, as someone already stated in this thread, it's not heat that ruins a bad chip, but the fluctuation of heating up to cooling down.

I'm guessing they're trying to weed out the bad chips. Apple just extended the warranty for our MBPs to 3 years, so even if it does somehow fail it'll be covered. I installed the update. Heck, at least I'll know if it was a bad chip, and if so Apple will cover it (assuming it fails within the next year or two).

[scottmeves]

Last week after my MBP was running hot and fans were on full speed, I shut the lid the set it aside; the next morning the video was dead. I took it into the Apple store, they ran a diagnostic test to check for the specific NVIDIA issue, and it of course failed so they had to replace the logic board. This was over memorial day weekend; I took it in Friday at 2pm, and I had my computer back in my hands by Wednesday 9am (even though Monday was a holiday). Not too bad. All my data was in tact.

I'm wondering now that I have the new logic board, if I should still install this SMC update or just ignore it. I'd obviously like to prevent any future failures (I wonder if the new logic board actually fixes the design flaw, or if it just gives me another year or two before it fails, too?), but don't want to fix anything that's not broken.

You would think the SMC update actually helps the reliability of the NVIDIA cards, rather than encourages them to fail to "weed" out the bad ones, right?

[quagmire]

Bah, this update has made my temps run hotter when not putting any load on it. Used to run between 118 to 125 F. Now running in the 130's to 140's.

[stereoscott]

Bah, this update has made my temps run hotter when not putting any load on it. Used to run between 118 to 125 F. Now running in the 130's to 140's.

Ok, I'm going to hold off on the update. Does anyone know what this update is *supposed* to do? Run fans more often, less often, more gradually, ??

[Joko]

I am finding that my fans are kicking in much earlier with this update, and subsequently my temps aren't reaching as high as they used to.

Generally a lot more fan activity.

[the Helix]

Here is something that I read on another Mac site:

"Just applied the SMC update and rebooted, followed by full power fans and the quickly loading firmware screen. After that another reboot and desktop. I was curious as to what this update did, doesn't seem to have done anything to the fans as I can tell, however my performance in World of Warcraft has gone from very very good to absolutely horrendous. Seriously getting about a third of the performance I was getting before. I dont know if they just completely throttled back the graphics chips with this update or what else they did.
I have my laptop on a cooling pad and I also use SMC fan control to prevent overheating and regret applying this update. (At least for now, I'd remove SMC fan control just to simplify the equation so to speak.) Will try to reapply the update see if it fixes issues. (it probably won't re-apply again - usually it'll check and say your firmware is already updated. However I'd try a SMC reset also - may not help but worth a try.-Mike) If anything, is there a way to run a previous firmware update to revert? Any suggestions are helpful.
-Emerson "

Here is the original link:

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/archives/may09/052809.html

[showstoppin]

its been a week and i still havent installed this update, i guess its for the best.

[sirgant]

Well I installed the upgrade on my MacBook Pro 15" Aug 08 and it's caused my fan to make a cranking noise. It does go away after running for several minutes, but I wish I never installed it.

Anyway to uninstall?

[showstoppin]

hmm maybe goto a previous time machine stamp?

[Bill Gates]

Well I installed the upgrade on my MacBook Pro 15" Aug 08 and it's caused my fan to make a cranking noise. It does go away after running for several minutes, but I wish I never installed it.

Anyway to uninstall?
That means there is a problem with one or both of your fans, not the update. You are still under warranty so take the machine in.

[dave12345]

Hi - my temps seem much higher with SMC Firmware 1.3 - does anyone know if its possible to role back to 1.2 ?


Thanks

[JavaWizKid]

I'm getting high temps too. Am I the only one who seems to see the link of higher temperature and extended warranty to 3 years... They are trying to kill the bad cards to replace them with good ones??? Who knows???

[celtikmind]

Can't install on a Unibody MBP 2.53GHz. I had fan problems since the beginning... and it's an SMC problem.

Me too, though I have a 2.4 Ghz Unibody. God sure knows it could use a more reactive fan control. Constant crashes due to heat, in both OS'es and no, I'm not going to use a third-party fancontrol on premium computer hardware!

[Timur]

Anyone blaming "heat" as a source of crashes in Windows should have a look at his Event Log. Most often the reasons are GPU driver issues, Trackpad driver issues and last but not least AHCI (aka SATA HD) issues with which Windows points to the BIOS (aka EFI).

Since installing Windows in March I had 15 AHCI crashes. Sorry, but "Poor job Apple!" :apple:

[TarangPrasad]

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[wildmilne]

I have an early 08 15" MBP, I just installed the update. I tried stressing my machine, exporting a full HD Quicktime file, and the update seems to let the machine get hotter before bumping up the fan speed. The fans usually start to spin up when it gets to about 70⁰c-75⁰c. But this time they stayed at 2000 rpm until the temp reached 87⁰c !!!!! and then slowly started speeding up. That is the hottest I have ever seen it get, nearly to hot to touch.

Nearly hot to the touch? My macbook pro could double as a frying pan since the day i got it if its on a fairly heavy load.

[tivoboy]

I'm not gonna do it,

it seems this update doesn't really provide any benefit, and maybe makes the unit hotter?

maybe this is apples way of getting the bad units with GPU problems to break, finally come in for repair and get the liability OFF the balance sheet?

:-)

[oYx]

some of us depend on our mbp for critical work away from home, and one of the reasons i chose a mac – in late 2007 – is because of quality hardware.

if apple is really trying to weed out the bad chips, i'd say it's a lousy way to go about doing it, because the failure can catch some of us at a really bad time. i run my backups regularly though, just in case it happens to me.

apple should simply allow us to bring it in to replace the defective parts if non-defective ones actually exist for certain.

of course, this is just a comment on a speculative theory anyway. :)

[natalielucy]

I just got a notice saying I need to update today. I'm unsure if I should. My Macbook specs are, 17inch Macbook pro...

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP31.0070.B07
SMC Version: 1.16f8

Does anyone know if it will be worth installing it. I rarely here my fan turn on, it does get warm though I'm not sure on the temp. Is there a way to test the temp?

[DrivenNails]

Macbook Pro SMC Firmware update 1.3 puts my computer into a crashing whore. I don't know why but ever since I did that my computer has become very temperamental giving me kernel crashes every 20 min or less. I just got it serviced for the graphics card going bad in it that could be it as well. Tried everything I could, all the usual resets. nothing.... Please help!:mad:

[lukoson]

So is the consensus to avoid this update? It comes up in my software update list so it seems to be appropriate for my SR 2.2. I've also noticed some erratic fan behavior at times and so was initially excited when I saw this update. But have waited given some of the consequences others have experienced. I should also mention that I have the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT and so wondered if some of the problems people have had are a consequence of having this card.

Has anyone had a good experience with this update and noticed some positive changes in fan behavior? :confused:

[lamadude]

I haven't had any problems with this update. I doesn't make my computer crash or the framerate in my games go slower or anything like that. On the other hand I'm not seeing any benefits either.

[Montys]

I have a MBP 2.2 like previous people have mentioned. Unlike before, the fans are up and running almost all the time, too noisy, and temperatures are up by 15 degrees approximately. I can only speak for myself, but don't update. Really wonder what Apple are going to do about this.

[limo79]

Did anynone try to revert to SMC firmware to previous 1.27f1 version using Apple Restoration CD ? Unfortunately I can not see MBP 4,1 on support list to mentioned tool.

I also found interesting post by "evangellydonut": http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2020755&tstart=0

"no people, this is NOT a firmware problem.

Here's my setup: Macbook Pro 15", 2.4GHz Penryn from early 2008, all standard equipment except I swapped out the harddrive with a 200GB 7200RPM one right after I got the computer

Here's what happened: When installing SMC 1.3, a window came up to prompt for restart, blah, blah... after ignoring it for an hour, i rebooted via that window's "restart" button. After an hour, I was still at the initial screen, after the apple-logo, now it displays a circle with diagonal slash, and a spinning thingy underneath.

Here's what I did: I called apple support, pressed 0 for customer service, yelled at the guy 'til she xfer'd me to a technician, at one point, the customer service rep was like "sir, you don't need to yell," and I effectively told her to shove it. I was furious with the technician too, who gave me some bs about warranty, and I told him that since it's an Apple update they forcibly pushed out, they have legal liability. Eventually, he said it may still be covered under your hardware warranty, and made an appt for me with an Apple genius at the local Apple store for next day when the store opened.

Here's what I tried after I got off the phone with Apple:
1. tried the usual stuff like PRAM, SMC zap, nothing
2. tried apple firmware restore 1.4, nothing
3. tried bootcamp and voila - by holding down "Option" at boot, you are given the choice to boot into Mac OS or Windows. I have Vista SP2, and figured might as well try that. It worked, which proves that it's not really a "firmware" problem. (was going to see if it can boot from CD, but didn't really bother)
4. took it to the apple store, the genius held "apple + s" at boot, to get into single-user mode, and saw the OS hanging at one point
5. he then booted from a firewire HD, since we established the bootloader is still intact when I booted into Vista
6. He ran disk-utilities, nothing came up (obviously)
7. He ran a system point-restore, restoring the OS to 10.5.6 (he quoted 20 minutes, I went to get lunch and when I came back, it was done)
now the computer is happy
8. I've updated everything once again via Apple Update, this time, SMC1.3 did not show up at all.

A bit of background about me - I do hardware, firmware, and driver development by profession, so I think I'm qualified to provide a guess as to what and where it went wrong:
for any computer, there's the initial "bootloader," which is what we commonly refer to as "firmware," and on the PC side it's the BIOS. This establishes the very basics of your motherboard, like "there is a CPU at address 0x0000 0000 0000 0000, there is 2GB of memory at address 0x0001 0000 0000 0000 0000, there is PCIe, there is graphics, etc..." When this gets screwed up, only way to restore the computer is via some "backdoor," often meaning a JTAG port. Some PC Motherboard has dual BIOS to make sure the updated BIOS will work before you can flash it to the "permanent" memory.

Next stage is the BSP (board support package) stage. This establishes basic driver things like "you can use 'writeToHD' function call to write to harddrive" etc. This will setup all the IO interfaces (harddrive, PCIe, whatever). This is where the "SMC 1.3 firmware" is inserted and went wrong... Since this BSP is also responsible to provide higher-level interface calls to the Kernel/OS, Windows and Mac OS uses different BSPs and we can boot into one but not the other. (If you've installed Windows XP via CD, when you first load the CD, there's tons of basic drivers it goes through before you can install, that's this stuff)

Next stage is the kernel, the all famous unix-based one Apple uses, or the Vista kernel. This provides stuff like TCP/IP stack, Bluetooth stack, etc.

At the end of the day, the "real" firmware wasn't really involved. Usually, when a BSP is updated, the entire BSP has to be recompiled and the Kernel should be recompiled with the new libraries provided by the new BSP. During the BSP compilation process, someone probably forgot to test some configuration (be it different HD, extra RAM, or whatever) and released it, causing the problem. This kind of bug is unacceptable and should result in someone getting fired if you ask me. I worked in Satellites and airplanes, these kind of errors could cause either billions of dollars or even lives! Judging by the fact that I had a restored BSP/Kernel and SMC1.3 did not show up, my guess is that this happened to enough computers and Apple had to pull the update."

[benthewraith]

Nearly hot to the touch? My macbook pro could double as a frying pan since the day i got it if its on a fairly heavy load.

"I have eggs in the refigerator and my macbook pro in the car. I was going to make an omelette on the way to work."

[dave12345]

Has anyone found an answer to this problem yet - my MBP is still burning up after only 20 minutes of web browsing. Went to see a genius but he said it is perfectly normal and did nothing.

[Montys]

Has anyone found an answer to this problem yet - my MBP is still burning up after only 20 minutes of web browsing. Went to see a genius but he said it is perfectly normal and did nothing.

What a complete load of crap. I think you should print out this thread and go to the manager of the store and show it to him:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2020755&tstart=0

I'm having the same problem and I have talked to Apple both in US and in UK. They both claim that their engineers are aware of the problem and currently investigating the problem.

[dave12345]

Ahh man - I hope apple come up with a fix for this soon - my battery life seems to be severely affected by this update also.

Thanks for the apple discussions thread monty ...

[doctoree]

wow. I think I made the right decision to put the update on my ignore list after it was released. I want my MBP to stay calm and cool. I also have AppleCare so I'm peace-of-minded.

[Mattnh]

There was no obvious reason for me to get this update and put it on the ignore-list.
Glad I did :)